the ocean echoing inside your ribcage
by lydiamaartin
Summary: Five ways Emma Swan imagined her happy ending over the course of her life, and the one person she never imagined it with until it happened. - EmmaKillian.


**disclaimer: **i don't own ouat.

**notes:** the ending is set in the distant future, probably au but maybe not.

* * *

_Someone asked me what home was  
and __all I could think of were __  
the stars on the tip of your tongue,  
the flowers sprouting from your mouth,  
the roots entwined in the gaps between your fingers,  
the ocean echoing inside of your ribcage.  
- _**e.e. cummings**

* * *

Here are the ways you'd pictured your happily ever after:

First, surrounded by a family that loves you, with a sweet, smiling mother and a proud, laughing father, and siblings all around you, people to talk to and laugh with and love. Nothing at all like the family that gave you up, that left you on the side of the road with nothing but a blanket to remind you that you have real parents somewhere. This family would be happy, and this family would love you through it all.

(The first lesson you learn is that happy endings don't come so easy as you thought when you were a little girl, and the family that you'd craved has a new baby to love instead of you.

You don't want a family anymore.)

-:-

Second, with a group of friends, boys and girls who look like your classmates but are smiling instead of taunting, who don't care that you're the lonely little foster girl, who will help you to not be lonely anymore, who will invite you over to their house and play games with you and talk to you when you're upset and missing the parents you never knew at all.

(The second lesson you learn is that kids are cruel, adults are crueler, and life is the cruelest joke of them all, and you've seen quite a lot of cruel jokes before you even leave school.

Friends, you decide, are unnecessary to your happy ending.)

-:-

Third, with a boy who makes you laugh like the world is yours for the taking, who makes you believe in things like love and hope, things you'd given up on long ago, things you'd thought an unwanted orphan like you could never truly have, with a boy who presses kisses to your lips like he can't get enough of you, who promises you _home_ in the creases of his smile.

(The third lesson you learn is never trust a pretty boy with a pretty smile and never leave your heart out for the taking.

Love is never enough, you think as you close your eyes against the sight of your newborn son.)

-:-

Fourth, alone and happy despite it, in an apartment for yourself in a city like Boston or New York or not Tallahassee, maybe not with a lot of friends, maybe never with a family, trying not to think of the son you gave up or the people you once loved who didn't love you enough, and making a living for yourself, carving a space out in the wild world outside just for you.

(The fourth lesson you learn is nothing ever stays stable for long and if everything's quiet, an earthquake is about to come and destroy your entire world.

Your son has his father's eyes, and this stings most of all.)

-:-

Fifth, in a sleepy little fairytale town with the son you've come to love as more than just the product of a love you've tried to forget, your son who is bright and beautiful and so clearly worthy of the love you never had, who needs you more than anyone's ever needed you because no one has ever needed the lost little foster girl, but he wants you to stay with him, and you want to stay with him, too.

(The fifth lesson you learn is that not all is as it seems and suddenly there is a whole world out there that you have never known and a life you never had and –

You don't know if you want that life, after all.)

-:-

Here is the way your happily ever after turns out in the end:

You meet a pirate in a faraway land, and he is nothing like you ever imagined yourself falling in love with, all rough edges and sharp smirks and words that strike your heart in a way you never imagined anyone would ever be able to do again, but he touches you like you are something precious, and suddenly, slowly, bit by bit, the walls you've put up to guard your heart crumble into dust around him.

It's not easy, and happiness is never free – it takes a lot of twists and turns and magic and strength and growing up and learning to love again, but one day, after everything has been done and all the world is still at last, you find yourself on the dock of a ship looking up at stars brighter than you've ever seen them and he is at your side, the way he has been for a long time now.

(Maybe it's not a fairytale, but it's your happy ending.)

-:-

_Epilogue_

"You're thinking too loudly," he murmurs against her cheek, one hand sliding around her waist and pulling her close to his body as he leans against the railing of their ship overlooking the tranquil sea. "What's on your mind, love?"

"Nothing," she says simply, then, "Everything," when he shoots her an unimpressed look. Smiling, she turns into him, pulling her gaze away from the reflection of the starlight on the ocean waves. "I never thought my life would be like this."

"What, being with a one-handed pirate from a children's tale?" he asks, amused, still seeming a bit disdainful at the idea of being a cartoonish villain in a story told to kids. She laughs, bringing one hand up to touch the cold silver metal of his hook.

"No," she says slowly, focusing in on his hook instead of his ever-bright blue eyes. "Being happy."

There's a silence that settles over them like a fog, and she doesn't dare look up because she can feel him stilling at her side, not wanting to see whatever emotions are on his face. And then he moves, too abruptly for her to think, pulling his hook away so he can wrap both arms around her and draw her in until his forehead rests against hers and his good hand comes up to cradle her cheek.

"Well," he murmurs as she catches her breath from his sudden movement, "I'm always glad to prove you wrong, Swan," and he's grinning, but there's an open honesty beneath his words, the same kind that had always made it so easy to trust him even when he wasn't trustworthy, made it even easier to fall in love with him, and before she can come up with anything remotely witty to say, he's leaning down and pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that could break any curse.

Emma lets herself melt into it, lets herself fall in love with him all over again, lets herself be happy, and nothing feels as good as her happily ever after.

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**a/n:** if you read this far, please drop me a review to let me know what you think! i'd really appreciate it!

and **DON'T** favorite without reviewing, please and thank you.


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